I wanted to know if grid heater is supposed to cycle when engine is restarted.Mine will cycle every time I restart it.It does't time when key is turned on but will cycle till 20 mph. or whatever other parameter it uses if you don't attain ground speed.

 

Mine is the same way, and sometimes it will cycle when its warm outside and I'm on a restart. Look at it this way, it's cycling your batteries and giving your alternator a workout.

 

Totally normal!

The only time I've seen the truck start without cycling the grid heater is in the middle of the summer a really hot day.

Just make sure you give it enough time to recharge the batteries. I try to drive a min. of 5 miles to be sure or leave it idle with the jake on...

 

Turning off the ignition then restarting, regardless of the in between time will cause the grid heaters to start to cycle again. I forget offhand what the outside air temperature must be for the grids shut down. 56 degrees or something like that. It has nothing to do with engine temperature. It's outside air temperature.

 

The grid heater keeps cycling until the engine gets up to a certain temp. They even cycle in the summer, just not as noticeable. Nothing to worry about.

 

I have heard of a couple of people taking their grid heaters off is this a bad idea or what?

 

Makes for better air flow.

Most who have removed them don't drive their trucks daily, or in cold climates.
Like sledpullers or drag racers.

Some company makes an aluminum block that takes their place.


phox

 

practical solutions makes a heater grid saver to eliminate this problem. I have one on my truck and it works great.

Another solution would be to disconnect the lead from the battery on the drivers side for the heater grid. Do not disconnect the lead from the heater grid or you could have the fourth of july under your hood. Always disconnect from battery, samll nut on bolt going through battery clamp. I use to do this but got tired- lazy so bought the practical solution one.

 

Easier way to disconnect the grids is to pull the one small wire off the heater relays a little to the rear under the driver's side battery. They just slip over a post, 5 second job.

 

Hey, Infidel...

What is the minimum temp that you can go to without the grid heater for cold start?

Is there any problems with disconnecting it?

Morning temps around here are about 25*F - 45*F lately...

I normally let the grids heat for the first start of the day. The rest of the day I don't even wait for the light to go out... I just "KICK THE PIG"...

I would rather lose the load of the grid heater hitting the alternator every start. Speed limits in town are 15 - 25 MPH so it kinda hard to shutdown the grid heater at times... Some dayz a lot of short trip in town...

 

Depends on how much smoke you can stand, once it gets below 40 the smoke can be really bad. I once skipped the wait to start cycle at about 35° in a motel parking lot no wind morning, all I can say is it was very embarrassing, pretty much stopped traffic the smoke was so thick.
Best bet is to experiment to see how much smoke you can handle.
Never tried it but my guess is it would take a lot of cranking to get a truck to start with no grids once the temp drops below 25°.

 

Sound to me like you could get away with it in the summertime but not in the winter time... That what I want to know...

 

I read somewhere that the heater will cycle only below 59*F. We just saw our first 70*F day this week and they did not come on all day.

 

Its not only for starting, its programed that way due to emissions regs.

 

I think it might be 60*, that seems to be when mine don't cycle.